John Lautner (1911 - 1994) was one of last century’s important contemporary American architects. His work was concerned with the relationship of the human being to space and of space to nature. “Shelter,” he said, “is the most basic human need.”
After graduating with a degree in English from the Northern Michigan University (then Northern State Teachers College), Lautner became an apprentice to Frank Lloyd Wright for six years, joining the first group of Taliesin Fellows. In 1937 he supervised the construction of two of Wright’s projects, and two years later established his own practice in Los Angeles. His first solo project was a house for his own family, which architectural critic Henry-Russell Hitchcock called “the best house by an architect under 30 in the United States.” Later Hitchcock remarked that “Lautner’s work could stand comparison with that of his master.” A comparison, incidentally, that Lautner himself would have been reluctant to make, given his lifelong devotion to Mr. Wright. Lautner practiced architecture for more than 55 years, designing unusual and unique residences in and near Los Angeles, including Silvertop, the Chemosphere, the Sheats/Goldstein residence, the Levy residence and the Elrod residence (Palm Springs, CA). In 1970, he was made a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects for Excellence in Design and he was named Architect for the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics. In 1993, he received the Gold Medal from the Los Angeles AIA chapter for his lifetime achievement. "Infinite Space: The Architecture of John Lautner" 2008, Director Murray Grigor, 90 minutes 6:30 pm – Doors open, check-in 7:00 − 7:15 pm Introduction 7:15 − 8:45 pm Film Screening 8:45 − 9:00 pm Q & A Film trailer: https://youtu.be/cvjtHWSLgls More information: https://www.johnlautner.org Shown above: The Arthur Elrod House (1968), Palm Springs, CA, photo © Joshua White.
